By Dan Forbes
Dear Bishop Jackels, Roman Catholic Church, and to all whom it may concern,
My life as a Catholic has been a journey. I was baptized Catholic a few weeks after my birth. I have witnessed my devout parents denied communion during my entire childhood, like wearing a scarlet letter during Mass. One of them was divorced according to the church; though they were and remain devout to one another and the church, married over forty years. Once upon a time I enjoyed all things Catholic until about age seven or the “age of reason” or whenever I could start reading well… I had questions..and I still do.
I remember hateful Bishop Mahoney remarking that he would defy law in order TO discriminate against gays in Wichita 1977. I was confirmed a short time later in the church, with Bishop Mahoney and the faith of my family.
My family — my father still is working hard and he continues to adore my Mother. I decided when I was 12 that as long as I was living under his roof, he was driving me to church, and it was not costing me anything, I would continue to be a full member of his church. It seemed important to him and he asked for so little of me. He believed that there was only one way to do that: by believing in the “One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.” I tried, and have tried. Been untrue to myself.
I am but one of the millions of Catholics whom American bishops profess to lead and, when the church inserts itself into our political process, claim to speak for. No, not I. I do not agree with the church on most social issues. I think the church should lose tax-exempt status. Be investigated for the criminal enterprise.
Bishop Jackels, I am demanding that you excommunicate me. I cannot in good conscience belong to the church anymore; I do not want to be counted with the over 120,000 Catholics in your diocese or the millions of Catholics in the United States of America, or the 1.2 billion Catholics in the world.
I too witnessed the events of a pope during a Palm Sunday homily, including a local priest going on about what he called “petty gossip.” Unfair media, That “petty gossip” is a tsunami of reports of child rape perpetrated by Catholic priests across the globe and attempts by bishops, archbishops, cardinals, and the pope himself to cover up that child rape by moving ordained rapists to new parishes where they could, and did, rape again. That “petty gossip” includes one case in which the pope halted an internal investigation of a Catholic priest in Wisconsin who is alleged to have raped more than 200 deaf boys — and I have met and spoken with six of the survivors.
I demand to be excommunicated because after the study of the Church of Ireland, thousands and thousands of pages, I better understand the faith of my Irish-born Roman Catholic ancestors and my Catholic family, the faith passed down. I am breaking the chains.
I demand to be excommunicated because I do not believe women are second-class citizens.
I demand to be excommunicated because Catholic missionaries are informing impoverished citizens of third-world countries that birth control is a sin when it is in fact the single most important thing they could do to gain some small amount of control over their economic situation and health resulting in millions of dead babies this year!
I demand to be excommunicated because the church has become a hate group, one that is unnaturally obsessed with the sex lives of men and women across the planet. I demand to be excommunicated because I do not condone child rape or the concealment of child rape.
I look forward to new journeys without the weight of the church on my shoulders. I will find solace knowing no Catholic cemetery for me, no priest. Separation from the pope and the church will give me deep personal satisfaction because he continues to stand in the way of human progress; the Roman Catholic Church divides nations all over the planet. To hell with the church and to hell with this pope. I renounce the church, all teachings of the church,and all church traditions. I will not be a part of any organization that welcomes and comforts and gives refuge to hate mongers, child rapists.
I demand that you excommunicate me immediately and that you send me confirmation as soon as possible that you have expunged me from the roster of the Catholic Church.
I had been ordained a priest not long before Anita Bryant sprang on the scene, and led the fight against Gay people in Dade County. After she won the battle to overturn the ordinance protecting the civil rights of Gay people, Anita’s husband kissed her, saying this was what marriage was all about, or some other such thing. Not many years later she divorced him.
One of my classmates in the seminary was a gay man from Wichita. When Maloney(Maloney or Mahoney?) began leading his crusade against our rights there, I wondered how my classmate, who was then a priest in his diocese, felt about his bishop leading a crusade against him and demanding that he (the bishop) be the only one to speak about the ordinance, and that his letter against the ordinance be read in all the churches. I don’t know if my classmate is still a priest. I myself left years ago, after Ratzinger’s document condemning gay relationships and was published by John Paul II. He said that gay couples cannot love, and that though no one should assault gay people, no one, not even the church should be surprised when people react violently against those who work to overturn laws criminalizing gay sexual behavior.
I could no longer be a part of such an institution. The idea that a pope could sign on to a statement showing no understanding of same-sex love but showing clear understanding for violence against gay people was abhorrent and vile and evil. And the man who wrote that trash is now the pope.
Since then, the leaders of the RC Church have become more and more vile, donating money and leading campaigns of lies against us and our relationships. All the while, many of these very leaders are closeted homosexuals. They have forgotten Jesus’ statement “the truth will set you free.” They have chosen, instead, to bind with lies.
Not all churches are like this one…and this is NO closer to God than most of the others. Farther away in fact. From tolerant and gracious Episcopalians (if you like all the liturgy…which I have no use for, but to each his or her own) to the Presbyterians, to the Lutherans to the United Church of Christ, there are a lot of places to still worship God should you choose to do so. These gay affirming denominations are better than the Catholics, and have had conservatives leave them because the accept US. We need to suppor them.
I will ask…and I really dont care, after all the horror stories I have heard from gay catholics, WHY is any one who is gay STILL a member of this denomination? Its NOT special, and it does NOT welcome you. It’s time to leave.
Dan,
Thank you for writing your heartfealt excommunication request. I was raised in the Wichita area and a member of the Wichita Diocese up until several years ago. After the realization that the Catholic Church is the largest organized child sex ring, I decided I would rather my children discover sex as adults and on their own terms instead of as children and on the terms of someone professing to be ‘chosen’ by God. What I find interesting about the anti-gay position within the church is the heirarchy is so against gays but when Fr. Doug Campbell is found with a male prostitute in Riverside Park, it is described by Bishop Jackels as a ‘victimless’ act, and Jackels goes on to suggest that ‘as soon as Fr. Doug is ready he can return to the pulpit.’ Really? Just another hypocritical stance by the Roman Catholic Church. Although, if the church would rid themselves of all gay priest there wouldn’t be many left. In the Wichita Diocese 90% of the priests would be effected, Bishop Jackels would even have to find a new job.
Dan and Patrick,
You are both brave to have taken such stands, for your own integrity, and for the dignity of our community.
Your actions are a blessing. I wish more gay Catholics would speak up as you have.
Can somebody explain how to get excommunicated? I am an Athiest and was forced into Childhood religeon by force (against EU human rights laws).
Bob, I’ve often wondered about that myself. I think what should work is to send a letter to the priest of the church you were forced to attend as a child and tell them you’re a happy gay, will never change, you completely reject the teachings of the evil church and seeing as you were forced into it and now you’re old enough to make your own decisions its only right and best for all that they excommunicate you.